ATMs and the like that, according to the contents of a transaction with a customer, for example, allow the customer to insert cash such as banknotes or coins, or pay out cash to the customer, are widely employed in financial institutions and the like.
For example, ATMs exist that include a pay-in/pay-out section that exchanges banknotes with a customer, a conveyance section that conveys the banknotes along a conveyance path, a classification section that classifies the banknotes by denomination, authenticity, and the like, a temporary holding section that temporarily holds banknotes, banknote storage boxes that store reusable banknotes by denomination, and a reject box that stores banknotes that are not for reuse.
In such an ATM, when a customer inserts banknotes through a customer interface in a pay-in transaction, the inserted banknotes are conveyed by the conveyance section with their short edge direction aligned with the direction of progress. Banknotes identified as normal banknotes by the classification section are stored in the temporary holding section. Banknotes identified as banknotes that are not for transaction are returned to the customer interface and given back to the customer.
Then, in the ATM, when the customer confirms a pay-in amount, the banknotes stored in the temporary holding section are fed out and their denominations are reconfirmed by the classification section, and the banknotes are stored in the respective banknote storage boxes according to their identified denominations. Banknotes identified as having a high level of damage are stored in the reject box.
For example, a reject box 517 illustrated in FIG. 25 stacks banknotes BL with their long edges positioned at the front and rear on a stage 31 that moves in an up-down direction inside an internal space 30S formed in a casing 30. More specifically, during banknote storage, the reject box 517 first aligns an upper face of the stage 31, or an uppermost face of the banknotes stacked on the stage 31 (referred to below as the uppermost stacking face) with a specific stacking height H2.
Next, the reject box 517 uses a conveyance section 34 to convey a banknote BL toward the rear, and uses a discharge section 36 to discharge the banknote BL into the internal space 30S from a discharge height H1. After the banknote BL strikes bill stoppers 41 and the impact has been absorbed, the banknote BL is tapped downward by tongue pieces 39B of tongue piece rollers 39, thereby superimposing and stacking the banknote BL on the uppermost stacking face.
In the reject box 517, a left side guide 533L and a right side guide 533R (referred to collectively below as the side guides 533) are respectively provided on both the left and right sides of the stage 31. The side guides 533 restrict the left-right direction position of the banknotes BL on the stage 31 using inside-facing stacking guide faces 554 on the left and right, neatly stacking the banknotes BL in a state pushed as close as possible to the center (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2012-76914).
The side guides 533 are side guides in which, as illustrated in FIG. 26 and FIG. 27, for example, a discharge guide face 553 is formed at an upper side, an inclined slide face 556 is formed inclined between the discharge guide face 553 and the stacking guide face 554, and an adjoining portion between the inclined slide face 556 and the discharge guide face 553 configures a guiding valley portion 557. When a banknote BL discharged from the discharge section 36 is offset toward the left direction, as illustrated in FIG. 25, the side guide 533 causes an edge portion of the banknote BL to progress by sliding against the discharge guide face 553 and the guiding valley portion 557. The side guides 533 are thereby capable of nudging the overall banknote BL gradually toward the center as a leading edge of the banknote BL approaches the bill stoppers 41.
Moreover, in the reject box 517, the side guides 533 that guide the banknotes BL are disposed very close to the stage 31, such that a moving mechanism that moves the stage 31 in the up-down direction is disposed further to the outside than the side guides 533. Accordingly, the stage 31 is provided with stage arms 31B that reach further outside than the side guides 533 on both the left and right sides of a central main placement portion 31A on which banknotes are mainly placed. The stage 31 is capable of moving in the up-down direction due to receiving drive force from the moving mechanism through the stage arms 31B.